ChanchoCome to Vancouver, home of passive-aggressive cyclists who love to create conflict and play the victim. A cycling obsessive neighbour admitted she refuses to use bike lanes "because they are for tourists" and chooses to block cars instead. Bikes are just another way they choose to be a pain in the ass.

HookerI was on the 97 B-Line (major bus route) one day, and there were a bunch of kids being taken out for the day by their parents or grandparents on the bus. At one point, there were three or four middle-aged male cyclists decked out in the usual lycra with all sorts of branding on it that I doubt any company ever paid for. Anyway, there were people at a bus stop, so the bus pulled in, crossing the bike lane. Instead of doing the reasonable thing and just stopping for a few seconds, the guys swerved out into the traffic lane and gave the bus driver a bunch of evil looks as they passed by. Eventually, being a vehicle, the bus caught up with them again, back in the safety of the bus lane. So, being the reasonable people they've shown themselves to be, they start banging on the bus door until the driver opens in (while in motion) and the cyclists start loudly swearing at him and threatening him with violence.

infinite zestI commute by bike but I have to drive about an hour every day for my work up and back down a very curvy and hilly road that has no bike lane, but at least enough room to pull over on a bike (but not on a car.) Perfect place for a nice scenic drive or bike ride, but it's also in the middle of the fucking city at rush hour! And cars don't want to pass because of the tight curves you can't see around.. anyway there must've been 30 cars behind one oblivious spandex wearing bike motherfucker going up hill at 5 miles per hour who didn't have the goddamn common courtesy to stop for 10 seconds and let the human-car-centepede behind him go by.

infinite zestBut Vancouver looks so pretty! I've only been to Victoria, save for a really quick stop in Vancouver when I was a kid. Portland's just becoming too clustered for me now; when I was a kid growing up here, going to the suburbs was cool because there was still cool stuff (and not just cool stuff that would just appeal to kids, but the kids at heart who enjoy barcades, skateparks, bike courses and such) but now all that stuff has been been stuffed into a very small rectangle that really isn't much bigger than 50 squared blocks that nobody wants to live outside of, and I don't see it happening any time soon. I'm sure Vancouver has its neighborhoods and such, but surely not everything's squished into just a small area of the metro area?

baleenFunny, the only time I've ever been to Vancouver, a cyclist told me to go fuck myself.

Canada is gigantic fart.

infinite zestBut paying artists and musicians with taxpayer money to do what they do best is pretty cool

ChanchoVancouver has a shitty art scene because the rent is high, jobs pay squat and nobody here gives a fuck about art. The group of bronze laughing coolies is considered high art in Vancouver.

infinite zestHey it's just like Portland! Ironically the neighborhood I work out of is referred to as the "Arts District" and that's the only reason why people started flocking there, because it was a cheap place for starving artists. Now that it's not a ghetto, the people that moved in there condoed it up and complained about the street events, like people pissing on their lawns, or more recently a gang-related shooting on one of the nights. Basically the scarlet letter's still "A" but replace it with "Art." Oh, where do I move to in October?

jfcaron_caDang I didn't expect all the cyclist-bashing when I posted this. I'm in Vancouver too (and a cycling advocate actually), and I'll try to remind you that the asshole/ignorant cyclists you see are the bike equivalent of people who actually kill others through negligence with their cars. They just don't have enough mass to actually kill people (99.99% of the time).
Try to see the difference between inconvenience and manslaughter, and remember that for every asshole cyclist you see, there are hundreds of others signalling properly, using the lanes when available, and generally giving a giant fuck.

Meatsack_JonesWas I the only one waiting for the camera guy to shove the other into the grass?

FABIOI've been biking to work for about a year now (after not touching a bike since I was 11), and by far the greatest number of collision incidents (near and actual) have been not from motorists but from other asshole bicyclists.

Can someone explain why, as a culture, bicyclists WILL NOT STOP EVER? Not for a stop sign, not for a red light, and not for pedestrian walk signals where they think they have the right to speed through a solid line of people on the crosswalk.

Raggamuffin^^ This is what I'm fucking saying. The other day I was heading through an intersection (for which I had a green light) and almost was sideswiped by another biker who was:

A) Running a red light
B) Halfway in the crosswalk and halfway in the road
C) headed straight at me with no effort to stop
D) riding with no hands